The Spirits of Fauna
by MWolfL
Summary: Norman is now the town hero, but this just causes a new set of problems for him. Will he ever be able to make a new sincere friend? Also, a new attack on the town is about to happen... NormanXOC
1. A Funeral and Apologies

It wasn't too long after Norman accepted Neil's friendship. As a matter of fact, it was just a few minutes after. The town, as they were cleaning the mess caused by Aggie's rampage, started to talk about Norman and Mr. Prenderghast, Norman's uncle:

"So Norman really can see and talk to ghosts."

"Wait but if he can, then his uncle can too."

"You mean Mr. Prenderghast? The guy who takes care of the cemetery?"

"Yeah."

"Gee, now I feel bad for making fun of him."

"So do I, in fact we should plan an apology party."

That last line was said by the mayor, who had overheard the rest of the townspeople talking.

"I agree." Mrs. Babcock spoke up. "Besides, I haven't seen my brother in years. It would be great to see him again."

Norman paled and looked ashamed.

"What's wrong?" Neil asked.

"Mr. Prenderghast..." Norman said quietly. "I just remembered."

He then stood up and faced where most of the crowd, including the mayor and his mom, were.

"Uh everyone, can I have your attention please?" Norman said awkwardly.

Everyone gave him their attention.

"Uh, there's something you need to know about Mr. Prenderghast." Norman continued, still feeling awkward. "Yesterday he visited me at school to convince me to end the curse. That is he visited me...as a ghost."

The town now looked very shocked. Mrs. Babcock looked as if she was about to cry.

"But that means he's-" Neil couldn't finish; even though Norman had already told him about Mr. Prenderghast's ghost visiting him it hadn't really registered in his mind.

"Dead." Norman confirmed. "I'm afraid so."

The town was pretty much speechless after that. After a couple minutes the mayor spoke up.

"Well, in that case the apology party will be changed to a funeral with apologies." He decided.

And that's what they did. They headed for Mr. Prenderghast's house, Norman leading the way, and gave him a proper funeral. During the funeral the mayor spoke for the whole town as he apologized to Mr. Prenderghast, but even so a few people who had made fun of Mr. Prenderghast a little more than the rest of the town did their own apologies. Mr. Babcock was one of them.

After the funeral Mr. Prenderghast's belongings were packed up and given to the Babcock family to sort through. Finally most of the town left and only Neil and the Babcocks remained. Mrs. Babcock spoke first.

"I'll miss you brother, I wish I could've seen you one last time before you died." She said sadly. "But I am glad that you finally got the respect you deserve, even if it wasn't while you were still alive."

"Thank you, uncle, for convincing me to hold back the curse." Norman then said. "If you hadn't then I wouldn't have helped our ancestor find peace, nor would I have made the town see the truth about us."

"Your ancestor?" Neil spoke up.

"Yeah, Agatha Prenderghast." Norman explained. "She was the so-called witch. Judge Hopkins and the other people who became undead hung her because they thought her ability to talk to ghosts was a witch power. Aggie was so scared and hurt that she cursed them to suffer the same treatment."

"Oh man..." Neil winced. "So is she, what, your many great-grandmother or something?"

"Cousin or aunt." Norman corrected. "She never had children. She couldn't anyway...she was around our age when she was hung."

Neil and the rest of the Babcock family looked horrified. And with good reason.

"God, I'm glad that sort of thing is pretty much illegal." Courtney said. "Of course people still would go that far...but at least it's not as common anymore. Right?"

"You're right, we don't do hanging that much anymore." Mr. Babcock confirmed. "Pretty much only Washington and New Hampshire really use it, and even then it's just an option for convicts."

The Babcocks now decided to leave, though Neil stayed behind for a moment.

"Before I go, I'm sorry for acting mean to you a few days back." Neil said to Mr. Prenderghast's grave. "I didn't even know who you were then, I was just defending Norman since he looked uncomfortable around you. Again I'm really sorry...oh, gotta go Norman and I planned to hang out today." Neil saw that Norman was far ahead of him. "I'll come back later!"

Well, that detail had been settled. But what about Aggie and Judge Hopkins and the others? Well, here's what happened:

_Aggie of course entered Heaven and saw her family again, especially her mom. Then surprisingly, Judge Hopkins and the other accusers appeared before the gate._

"_What?" Judge Hopkins said. "Why are we up here?"_

"_Well it wasn't like you killed Aggie out of malice or anything." A voice said._

_Startled, Judge Hopkins and the others looked up and saw the head angel who oversaw the comings and goings (mostly comings) of angels._

"_What you did was out of fear, plus you thought you were protecting the town." The head angel continued. "Then after you realized the truth you felt remorse and wanted to set everything right."_

"_We haven't set everything right...not yet." Judge Hopkins said sadly. "Uh, do you have any paper and pens I could use?"_

"_Sure thing, Heaven has everything angels need after all." The head angel smiled._

_Instantly paper and a pen, a 1700s quill pen, appeared before Judge Hopkins._

"_Can you also make sure that this will become tangible to the living?" Judge Hopkins asked._

"_Yes, but why?" The head angel was now confused._

"_Because I'm going to give this to the young boy who helped calm Agatha Prenderghast." Judge Hopkins explained._

"_Oh you mean Norman Babcock, her descendant." The head angel realized. "Really nice boy, I know he has a wonderful future in store for him."_

"_He deserves one." Judge Hopkins nodded as he wrote on the paper. "I'll be back." He added once he was done._

_Now Aggie hadn't been accepted into Heaven right away, but only because there had been other people before her. This also meant that it took a while for Judge Hopkins and the others to also reach the gate (Aggie didn't know they were behind her since they didn't want her to see them yet). Because of this it was actually the day after Mr. Prenderghast was buried when Judge Hopkins returned to Earth as a ghost._


	2. Exoneration and Forgiveness

Norman and Neil were on their way to Town Hall because the previous day the mayor had said that there was to be a town meeting that day. Norman and Neil were running late because they had slept in, after all they barely got any sleep during their adventure with the undead.

"Uh, pardon me...Mr. Babccock?" A voice behind them said.

Norman turned around but Neil didn't. Neil however did notice that Norman had stopped so he looked at Norman and saw his mouth hanging open.

"A new ghost Norman?" Neil guessed.

"Yeah, Judge Hopkins." Norman said.

"What? But didn't he crossover yesterday?" Neil asked.

"This is just a visit, I wanted to give you this before I entered Heaven with the others." Judge Hopkins explained, handing out the now-rolled-up paper.

"Heaven?" Norman actually smiled a little as he took the paper, which became visible upon his touch. "You mean you and the accusers have been forgiven for what you did to Aggie?"

"Yes...you're glad?" Judge Hopkins noticed Norman's smile.

"Well I had taken Aggie's death hard understandably, but after you explained why and revealed that you felt horrible for it I forgave you." Norman explained.

Judge Hopkins smiled.

"I'd better get back now. Thank you for bringing peace to Agatha." Judge Hopkins faded away.

"You're welcome." Norman smiled back.

"So Judge Hopkins wanted to give you this huh?" Neil looked at the paper.

"Yeah-" Norman noticed there was writing on it that said 'give to current mayor'. "To give to the mayor apparently. Oh right, we're late!"

Norman and Neil ran for Town Hall. Once there some officials stopped them.

"Before you go in Mr. Babcock the mayor wanted us to tell you to head directly for the stage." One official said.

"Okay..." Norman didn't know what to make of that but decided to go with.

So Norman and Neil went in. While Neil found his family and joined them (they saved him a seat) Norman awkwardly headed for the stage.

"Ah Mr. Babcock, there you are." The mayor smiled.

"Yeah..." Norman said shyly as he neared the stage. "Sorry to keep everyone waiting."

"It's okay, you understandably needed your rest." The mayor shrugged. "Come here please."

"Right." Norman entered the stage. "But before you say anything else, I'm supposed to give this to you." He held out the paper.

The mayor took it, confused.

"Where did you get this?" He asked, not recognizing the style of paper.

"Judge Hopkins, his ghost appeared earlier and gave it to me." Norman explained.

"Then it must be important." The mayor unrolled the paper and read it: "Let it be known that from this day forward Agatha Prenderghast is pardoned of all witchcraft. She is no longer a witch, she is now a Medium. Furthermore she and her descendants are to be considered important members of the town, and none shall not be mistreated in any form. Norman Babcock, specifically, is to officially be the town hero. Sincerely, Judge Hopkins."

Norman was both surprised and touched, and couldn't help but smile. But it had nothing to do with him being the town hero, it entirely had to do with Aggie being pardoned. He hoped that Aggie was watching.

_And it turns out she was, the head angel had set up a screen inside heaven after letting Judge Hopkins and the accusers inside. Aggie and her family weren't happy to see them._

"_What are all of you doing here?" Aggie's mother glared as Aggie hid behind her._

"_Please ma'am, we feel horrible for what we did you your daughter." Judge Hopkins said. "We never meant to hurt anyone."_

"_They really do feel bad." The head angel added. "Just take a look at this."_

_The scene of the mayor reading Aggie's pardoning played on the screen. When the scene was done the screen disappeared._

_Aggie and her family couldn't believe it._

"_You actually did that? For me?" Aggie moved around her mom and looked at Judge Hopkins._

"_We know we can't fully undo the harm we did, but at least you won't be considered a witch to future generations. Plus now your descendants are protected from such treatment." Judge Hopkins nodded. "Hopefully this will also mean the end of those witch-themed places around Blithe Hollow."_

_Aggie actually smiled._

"_Thank you." She said._

_Judge Hopkins and the accusers couldn't help but smile back._

Meanwhile, back on Earth, the mayor smiled after reading the paper.

"Well, Judge Hopkins and I seem to think alike in some ways." He chuckled.

"What do you mean?" Norman asked.

An official looking guy approached the mayor with a box. The mayor opened it and took out a medal. Norman blanched a little.

"I too was planning to dub you the town hero." The mayor explained. "After all Norman, you not only saved the town but you also revealed the true history of the Blithe Hollow Witch - or Medium it turns out - and brought peace to a tormented young girl."

Yeah after Mr. Prenderghast had been buried, and after Norman told Neil and his family about Aggie, the town asked Norman who the witch really was. Norman told them the whole story, or at least as much of it as he knew.

"I know we have unjustly mistreated you in the past, and I don't know if we'll ever be able to make up for it, but hopefully this is a good start." The mayor continued. "And so, with this medal I now proclaim you the town hero." He placed the medal over Norman's head.

Everyone else applauded as Norman looked at his medal. To his surprise it wasn't a generic medal, instead some extra words had been engraved so that it fully read 'Norman, Hero Medium', one word on top of the other.

"Would you like to say a few words?" The mayor asked, figuring that Norman's poor social past would make him too shy to say a big speech.

"Just a few." Norman agreed.

He then took the mayor's place on the stage.

"Everyone, the truth is this more than makes up for how you treated me in the past." Norman said.

The mayor and everyone else present looked surprised.

"I understood why you never believed me, after all it wasn't like any of you could see ghosts and were just denying it." Norman continued. "That's why I never got mad at any of you, and I was only hurt because, well, who wouldn't be hurt from being mistreated? Truthfully all I wanted was kindness from all or at least most of you, you didn't even need to accept my ability. Although I admit, not having experienced much kindness in the past did make me hesitate when I was offered friendship from the living for the first time."

With that he looked at Neil and smiled.

"But I'm glad I gave in and accepted that friendship." He finished. "Also, I'm glad that Aggie has finally been pardoned. Hopefully she can really rest in peace now. Thank you."

Norman left the stage amidst applause and joined his family. He and his family hugged.

The weeks passed. The town slowly lost it's witch theme and switched to a ghost theme. For example Witchy Wieners became Specter Sausages. The statue was left broken though, the town hadn't decided on how to replace it.

Life had gotten a bit better for Norman. Now he could talk to his ghost friends without people giving him weird looks, and some people even asked him about the ghosts he was talking too. He and Neil played nearly everyday, and you'd think that Norman's life was now perfect.


	3. Another Bad Kind of Treatment

However there was a problem, which Norman finally brought up the following January.

It was the first day of school, and Norman and Neil were walking to school together. When they reached the school pretty much all the girls present looked at them and whispered and giggled amongst themselves.

"Gee, you've really gotten popular with the girls." Neil commented.

"Unfortunately." Norman muttered.

Neil was about to ask him about his response, when the most popular girl in school approached them.

"Hello Norman." She smiled. "I was wondering if you would like to go to the Valentine's Day dance with me."

Norman raised an eyebrow.

"You mean they put up posters for that already?" Norman was confused.

"Well no, but you know the old saying: the early bird catches the worm." The popular girl shrugged.

"Oh...well sorry but I can't agree now...I don't know whether my mom will plan anything or not..." Norman said awkwardly. "Sometimes she plans family activities...uh, I'd better get to class." He hurried towards the building.

"Okay, let me know once you get word from your mom." The popular girl smiled and winked as Norman headed inside.

"Hey Norman wait up!" Neil ran after Norman.

Once Neil caught up he saw that Norman was looking sad.

"What's wrong?" Neil asked. "I mean come on, the most popular girl in school just asked you out."

"Yeah, because I'm a hero." Norman said the last word with a mocking tone. "I just want people to like me for me, not for being a hero."

He then went to his locker and opened it. A wave of letters spilled out, making Norman leap back with a startled cry.

"Man really?" Norman frowned. "This is the first time it's happened before first class."

You see those letters were love letters, which Norman had been getting ever since November of last year. At least in his locker.

"I think you're lucky, I wish one girl would want to go out with me." Neil picked up a letter and read it. "Or at least give me anonymous love letters."

"Truthfully those hateful messages I used to get were better." Norman shook his head. "At least they were easier to clean up."

"You kinda have a point there." Neil admitted. "We'll never get this sorted out before the bell rings."

"Let me help." Salma showed up.

"Thanks Salma." Norman was relieved that there was at least one girl who didn't want to be his girlfriend.

"No problem." Salma shrugged.

The three of them quickly gathered the letters and stuffed them back into Norman's locker. Norman then quickly put the books he didn't need inside the locker too.

"Thank goodness we have the same classes as last year." Neil checked his watch. "We don't have to worry about a new schedule."

"Yeah, we'd better get going." Salma nodded.

And so they headed for first class, making it just as the bell rang.

When Norman got home later that day he greeted his parents.

"How was school?" His mom asked.

"Well it was another day of no bullying or scorning, which was nice." Norman shrugged as he took a cookie his mom bake recently. "It's still going to take me a while to get used to it though."

"At least you don't have to worry about being an outcast anymore." Mr. Babcock smiled.

"True." Norman had to smile back. "Even Alvin is leaving me alone, which is the nicest change."

This was partially true. While Alvin had stopped bullying Norman he didn't exactly leave him alone. Now he was trying to be all buddy-buddy with Norman. Norman, being a polite kind guy, didn't entirely turn Alvin down but he was never the first to suggest hanging out either.

"I'm going to say hi to grandma." Norman said as he headed for upstairs.

"Okay dear, I'll call you when dinner is ready." Mrs. Babcock smiled.

"Can you say hi to her for me?" Courtney said as she walked by. "I have a lot of things to talk about with my friends."

"No problem." Norman smiled.

He then headed for his bedroom.

"Hi grandma, I'm home. Courtney says hi too." Norman entered his bedroom and tossed his backpack aside.

"Hello Norman, how was school?" His grandma asked, knitting at the edge of his bed.

"Well the lack of bullying and scorning is still a nice change of pace." Norman sighed, collapsing on his bed. "But now there's a new problem."

"What is it?"

"It's most of the girls in school, ever since I was named the town hero..." Norman gestured to his medal, which had been hung on his wall. "The girls have been trying to get me to go out with them. However it's only because I'm a hero, they don't really like me for me. And even if they did I'm not even ready to date yet!" He groaned and covered his face with his hands. "What am I going to do?"

"Just listen to your heart Norman, you'll find the right girl when you're ready." His grandma smiled comfortingly.


	4. A Fauna-Linguistic Freshman

A.N. I actually ship Norman and Aggie, but after seeing all those stories with Norman having an OC love interest who also has something to do with ghosts I decided to write a story that has him end up with someone relatively different.

The next week, a new girl entered the school. Everyone turned towards her and almost all the guys dropped their mouths open. The new girl was a very attractive Native American, although her green eyes hinted that she was a mix of Native American and another nationality. She had her hair in two braids, and was wearing a green shirt and dark green skirt.

As she walked down the hallways the guys continued gaping at her. Even Neil, who was with Norman at his locker, stared at her. Norman however wasn't staring at her.

"Neil, stop being rude you know it isn't polite to stare." Norman said out of the corner of his mouth as he sorted through more love letters; fortunately there weren't a lot this time.

"But Norman, she's beautiful." Neil whispered back. "Come on even you have to admit she's really good-looking."

"Yeah, but so what?" Norman shrugged. "It's what's inside a person that counts, how they look on the outside has nothing to do with who they are. I mean she probably is a really nice girl, but you shouldn't judge people on looks alone."

Unknown to them, the new girl had overheard Norman and was smiling gratefully. However instead of stopping to talk to Norman she continued on, heading for the Administration office. The bell was going to ring soon and she still needed her schedule.

Norman and Neil didn't see her again until lunch, since she apparently had different classes than them. They saw her sitting alone at first, but then Alvin joined her.

"Oh great, Alvin's gonna make his moves on her." Neil winced. "Want to save her?"

"Nah, even though Alvin has stopped bullying us I'd still rather not deal with him." Norman shrugged. "We'll just eat nearby in case Alvin goes too far."

"Sounds good to me." Neil agreed.

So they sat at a table next to the one Alvin and the new girl were sitting at. However they soon heard Alvin telling the new girl about his 'helping' Norman calm a vengeful ghost.

"_Great,_" Norman thought bitterly. "_Now she might become another fangirl._"

The next morning Norman and Neil were walking to school as usual when they saw the new girl talking to a tree. The ghosts surrounding her looked at her astounded.

"Uh Norman, isn't that where your parachutist ghost friend Bridget hangs out?" Neil said.

A.N. I named her Bridget after her voice actress. The other ghost friends of Norman will be named after their voices actors too.

"Yeah...you don't think she-" Norman couldn't believe it.

"One way to find out." Neil quickened his pace.

Norman followed until the two were just a few feet behind the new girl.

"Hello." Neil smiled.

Startled, the new girl turned around and smiled upon seeing Neil and Norman.

"Oh hello there. Norman and Neil right?" The new girl guessed. "I got your names from Alvin."

"Yeah that's us." Neil smiled. "So, were you talking to Bridget?"

"Who...oh you mean the parachutist ghost?" The new girl guessed. "No, sorry. I can't see ghosts."

"Wait, if you can't see ghosts then how did you know that Bridget is a parachutist?" Norman frowned with confusion.

"You two won't believe this." Bridget chuckled.

"A little birdie told me." The new girl smiled. "Literally."

She pointed into the tree, revealing a small bird upon a branch.

"Animals can't really see ghosts like you can Norman, but some can sense their presence and can even tell what kind of ghost is there." The new girl explained.

"You were talking to a bird?" Neil was confused.

"Yes I was. I can talk to animals, it's a family trait." The new girl smiled. "Oh I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Rima-" She then looked confused and looked around. "Uh, I think there's a ghost dog nearby. Even though I can't see ghosts I can hear and understand animal ghosts."

"Oh that's Bub, Neil's dog." Norman chuckled. "Ever since Neil saw Bub through me Bub has been following us around now and then. Luckily the school may not allow dogs but it can't do anything about ghost dogs."

"Oh I see." Rima smiled. "Well not literally...you know what I mean."

The three of them chuckled.

"So, you're Native American?" Norman guessed.

"Mostly, yeah, from the Wampanoag tribe." Rima nodded. "And you're the local Medium and town hero from what I heard."

"Yeah." Norman's smiled faded.

"Oh don't worry, I don't care about status or anything." Rima smiled. "And to me a true hero is someone who has a strong heart and is brave when necessary, not someone with muscles or a special power. Also I'm grateful that you didn't get a crush on me right away, it's gotten really tiring. You are right you know, you can't judge people by how they look."

"You...heard me?" Norman blushed.

"Oh it's okay, I'm glad I did. I've liked you ever since I did, it's not often I meet a guy with good judgement."

"Heh, if it helps any I did want to get to know you before thinking of asking you out." Neil blushed sheepishly, realizing that Rima probably overheard him too.

"Don't worry, I know you're a nice guy too." Rima chuckled.

Neil was obviously relieved.

"So, something tells me Alvin didn't tell me the full story." Rima said. "Would you mind telling me the full story as we continue walking to school?"

"Not at all." Norman smiled.

So Norman did. When he was done Rima was impressed.

"You really do have a strong heart Norman." She smiled. "And I'm glad things worked out in the end."

"Same here." Norman smiled back.

By this point they had reached the school. The girls were frowning at Rima jealously and Rima soon noticed.

"Uh, the girls don't like me hanging out with you guys huh?" She guessed.

"Just me." Norman sighed. "They all want to date me just because I'm the town hero."

"I kinda know how you feel, most of the guys want to date me just because I'm attractive." Rima said sympathetically.

"Do you know any who don't?" Neil asked.

"Just some of my old friends from my old hometown." Rima shrugged. "We've been friends since kindergarten so we ended up becoming like siblings as we grew older. Because of this the thought of dating me grosses them out." She then chuckled. "A few other guys had teased my old friends about them dating me and they reacted pretty much the same way a guy would react to the thought of dating his sister."

Norman suddenly had a mental image of him dating Courtney and winced big time.

"Don't blame them." He shook his head, trying to get rid of that image.

The bell then rang.

"See you guys at lunch?" Rima smiled.

"Sure." Norman smiled.

"You bet." Neil agreed.

At lunch the three - or four counting Salma - sat together and ate. They talked as they did and became good friends. Even Salma ended up getting along with Rima.

The weeks passed and Norman, Rima, Neil, and sometimes Salma continued to hang out. Norman talked to ghosts for his friends and Rima talked to animals for them. She always translated Bub's barks whenever he was around, which made Neil even happier. She also started to translate Norman's raccoon ghost friend. Along with that they hung out around town, usually at the arcade or a eating place. Rima even took up watching horror movies with Norman and Neil, though didn't enjoy them as much as they did. Fortunately the cheap (very cheap) special effects in some of them kept her from getting too scared.

Rima later introduced them to animal related films, like movies based on books that revolved around animals. Norman and Neil had to admit that they like a lot of them, and had found out from her that sometimes the animal actors said stuff not related to the film at all. In fact most of the time the animal actors asked how many times a scene was going to be repeated or asked for food or to play. She always found it funny, and since she translated whatever the animals were saying Norman and Neil ended up finding it funny too.


	5. I Never Thought I Could Feel This Way

Valentine's Day was now coming. Mrs. Babcock hadn't planned any family activities, but Norman told the popular girl that she had anyway since he really didn't want to go to the dance with her and didn't know how to tell her. Instead of going to the dance he, Neil, Salma, and Rima spent the afternoon/evening at his house watching movies they liked that had romance in them.

Around another month passed and it was now March. Norman was about to leave, when the phone rang. He hesitated for a moment, just in case it was an important call. After all they rarely got phone calls this early in the morning.

"Hello?" Mr. Babcock said. "Oh hi Neil, is something wrong? Oh, I see. Yes I'll tell him, feel better soon. Okay, bye."

"Is Neil okay?" Norman asked, going over to his father.

"He's fine, he just has a cold." Mr. Babcock explained. "He just wanted to let you know."

"Oh, okay." Norman was relieved. "I'll call him later today and see how he's feeling. Bye dad."

"Bye son, have a good day at school."

Norman left and made his way to Bridget's tree where he and Neil always met Rima. To his surprise when he first saw Rima he felt a shiver go up his spine.

"Hi Rima." He said.

Rima didn't speak at first for some reason.

"Uh hi Norman." She said almost a bit shyly "Where's Neil?"

"He has a cold." Norman explained. "He can't come to school today."

"Oh, too bad." Rima said sympathetically. "I hope he feels better soon."

"Me too, maybe we can pay him a visit after school if he's feeling well enough." Norman suggested.

"Sounds good to me." Rima smiled.

They started making their way to school. Soon they came upon Norman's hair dryer ghost friend Holly, hippie ghost friend Nicholas, his Civil War soldier ghost friend Jack, and his Greaser ghost friend David.

"Hey man, where's your brother Neil?" Nicholas asked.

"Back at his pad sick." Norman explained.

"Bummer." Nicholas said sympathetically.

"Hey Norman, got yourself a girlfriend?" David asked.

Norman blushed.

"No." He almost stammered.

"At ease soldier, David is just teasing you." Jack looked at David sternly.

"What's wrong?" Rima asked Norman.

"Oh, uh, it's a guy thing." Norman shrugged.

"Okay." Rima smiled.

She knew guys usually said that when they just didn't want to talk about something, but since she also knew that Norman can be awkward and shy a lot she accepted it this time.

They continued walking to school, talking with ghosts and animals along the way. Norman noticed that his heart had started to pound fast, and that he was feeling warm and light for some reason. However since he had Rima and ghosts and animals to talk to and had to get to school he didn't think about it until they finally entered the building. Norman thoughts, for some reason, ended up sounding like a song:

I never had this feeling before

She gives me shakes and shivers I can't ignore

Could there be more than I thought between her and me?

Unknown to him, Rima had noticed that she was starting to feel different around Norman too:

I never felt my heart beat so fast

I'm thinking of him first and of myself last

And how happy I want him to be

Norman thought about how Rima truly liked him instead of only liking his being a hero like the fangirls.

NORMAN:

It's amazing someone in my life

Just might be loving me

I didn't know that I could feel this way

RIMA:

It's so crazy

Something in my life

Is better than a dream

I didn't know that I could feel this way

Of course they had to stop thinking at times, especially during class when they had to concentrate on the lesson and their studies. Lunchtime then came around.

Norman stopped thinking as he got his food, not wanting to accidentally grab the wrong thing. Rima did too when she entered the cafeteria a couple minutes later.

Norman sat down and started to eat, but stopped when he saw some fangirls coming.

"Hi Norman." One girl giggled. "Can we sit with you?"

"Uh, sorry but I have to save a seat for Rima." Norman said awkwardly. "So there won't be room for all of you."

"Oh come on, you really should try to make more friends." Another girl said.

"Hi, am I interrupting anything?"

Rima had arrived. Norman was relieved, though found it hard to speak at first.

"Actually you are, do you mind waiting?" A third girl frowned.

"Hey, she happens to be one of my best friends." Norman frowned. "Don't mind them Rima, sit down."

"Thank you." Rima smiled.

Norman smiled back.

The fangirls, seeing that they weren't going to win, left.

NORMAN:

She makes me warm and happy inside

RIMA:

He smiles and I get dizzy and starry-eyed

Rima then looked upset.

"You okay?" Norman asked.

"Yeah, I just arrived too late to get a brownie that's all." Rima explained. "It's one of the few good desserts they have here."

Norman looked at his brownie, then smiled and broke it in half.

"Here." He said, offering half to Rima.

"Oh, you don't have to-" Rima hesitated.

"Aw go on, take it."

Rima smiled.

"Thank you." She took it.

They both felt a jolt as their hands unintentionally touched. However they acted as if nothing had happened, but did start to realize what was going on.

BOTH:

All these feelings I have

Have me asking

RIMA:

Can this be love?

NORMAN:

Can this be love?

RIMA:

It's crazy

BOTH:

I can hardly speak

Whenever she (he) says hi

RIMA:

I didn't know that I could feel

NORMAN:

I never dreamed that I could feel

RIMA:

I

BOTH:

Didn't know that I could feel this way.

Yup, they had fallen in love. They didn't say anything though, Norman still wasn't ready to date and Rima didn't want to burden him further since he already had the fangirls to deal with.


	6. Real Love or False Love?

Later as they walked home after school Norman and Rima decided that Norman would call Neil first and if Neil was feeling better then he and Rima will visit him. However if Neil was still feeling bad then Norman would just let Rima know and they'd just stay home. When Norman got home just headed upstairs without saying hi to his parents first.

"I wonder what's wrong with Norman." Courtney said.

"I hope it's nothing serious." Mrs. Babcock said, worried.

"He's just probably tired and needs to take a nap." Mr. Babcock shrugged. "And even if there was something wrong he just probably went to talk to mom about it, she always was good at helping him with his problems."

"That's true." Courtney nodded.

Mr. Babcock then snapped his fingers.

"Or he probably went upstairs to talk to Neil privately, he had to stay home with a cold today." He remembered.

"Oh." Mrs. Babcock smiled, no longer worried. "Okay then. I hope Neil feels better soon."

Mr. Babcock got two out of three right. Norman wanted to talk to his grandma about his new feelings for Rima before calling Neil and seeing how he was doing.

"Hi grandma." He sighed as he entered his bedroom.

"Hello Norman, anything wrong?" His grandma asked.

"Kinda...grandma I...I think I've fallen in love with Rima." Norman admitted.

"Well there's nothing wrong with that." His grandma chuckled. "Rima is a wonderful girl and you two would make a great couple."

"Yeah but what if my feelings aren't true? And even if they were and if Rima did love me back how would I know if her feelings were real or not? Besides, I'm still not ready to start dating."

"Well there's nothing wrong with waiting until you are ready, actually it is better to wait until you're ready. Either way just remember my previous advice: listen to your heart."

Norman sighed but decided to follow his grandma's advice. He thought about why he had fallen in love with Rima, and also paid attention to how his heart felt when he thought about her. He started to realize that he had fallen in love with her because she was kind, had good judgement, wasn't shallow, and was smart and fun. This meant that his love was true, but he still worried about her loving him back for real.

He stopped for a few minutes though as he called Neil to check on him. Neil was still feeling pretty bad so Norman decided not to visit him and just let him rest.

After letting Rima know Norman went back to worrying about her loving him back for real. This worry continued as he got into bed later that night and fell asleep.

_The next thing he knew, it was morning. He got up and got ready for school. It started off normal, but things started to get weird once he reached Bridget's tree. For one thing Bridget wasn't there! Norman was shocked, ghosts hardly left their haunting spot. Usually they only did if there was a good reason, like a dog's loyalty to its master, and he couldn't think of anything that'd make Bridget leave. Even weirder, Holly, Nicholas, David, and Jack were gone too. So were all the other ghosts. Also there weren't any living things around, no humans or even animals. Norman was very confused._

_Things seem to go back to normal when he reached the school though, for there were the other students. However when they saw him no one waved or said hi. Not even the fangirls greeted him. Instead they all ran away scared._

"_Huh, they didn't even act like that before they found out that I really could see ghosts." Norman shrugged, even more confused._

_He decided to forget about it and head inside...and that's when he got a shock. He saw his reflection in a window as he passed it and had to double-back. According to his reflection his skin was now a sickly green! He looked at his hands and sure enough they were green._

"_I'm undead?" Norman was beyond confused now. "How could this happen? I couldn't have died last night could I?"_

"_Norman!"_

_Startled he turned around and saw Rima coming. She didn't react to his new appearance for some reason._

"_Sorry I'm late." Rima smiled. "So, where is everyone?"_

"_They left when I arrived." Norman explained._

"_Huh, weird."_

"_No, considering how I look it's not surprising." Norman gave her a confused look._

"_Wha-oh you mean your green skin." Rima noticed. "What happened? Ate some bad cafeteria food?"_

"_No, I'm undead. You mean you didn't even notice?"_

"_Not really, I mean I don't care what people look like." Rima shrugged._

_Suddenly it was nighttime and a full moon came out. Rima started to grow fur until she became a werewolf!_

"_What really matters is what's inside a person's heart." Rima added as she put her paw over Norman's heart. "And even though your heart has stopped beating you're still the kind, brave, selfless guy I became friends with."_

Suddenly Norman heard his alarm clock go off. It took him a few moments to register what was going on, but eventually he managed to turn it off.

"Oh...I was dreaming." He muttered, still a bit sleepy.

He then yawned and got dressed. His grandma showed up once he was done.

"Ah you're finally awake." She smiled. "Stuck in a dream huh?"

"Yeah, why?" Norman yawned again.

"Didn't you see the time?"

Norman looked at his clock and realized that his alarm clock had actually been going off for minutes, he was running late!

"Aw geez!" He jumped out of bed and quickly got ready.

He then rushed out of his bedroom, but had to double-back for his backpack.

"Hi mom, hi dad." He said quickly before grabbing an apple and banana. "Gotta go see you after school!"

"Bye-" Mr. Babcock couldn't finish, Norman had already left.

Mrs. Babcock quickly rushed outside.

"Be careful eating that apple, I don't want you to choke yourself!" She called out.

"I won't!" Norman called back.

He relaxed as he started to near Bridget's tree. This time she and the other ghosts were there, though Rima wasn't.

"Running late huh?" Bridget smiled. "Rima waited for you for a few minutes but then decided to just see you at lunch."

"Yeah, sorry I was stuck in a dream. A weird one." Norman shrugged as he continued on. "Don't have time to talk now but I'll see you all after school."

The ghosts understandingly let Norman continue on his way without talking to him. As he walked he thought about his dream. He realized that it was letting him know that there was a very good chance of Rima loving him back for real. Even so he decided to not say anything, he still wasn't ready to date.

A couple days later Rima decided to just hang out with some animals on her own. Neil was feeling a bit better and Norman was visiting him. Rima would've visited Neil too, except her parents wouldn't let her. They didn't want her to catch Neil's cold. Norman's parents were more lenient about it because they were still grateful to Neil for giving Norman his first living friend.

"So we've seen that you're really close with the Norman boy." A squirrel said.

"Yeah, he's one of my best friends." Rima smiled.

"Really? I thought he was your mate." A bird said.

Rima blushed.

"What? No, come on humans don't get mates until they're eighteen at least." She shook her head.

"Well, future mate then."

"No, we're just friends." Rima sighed. "I admit, I do love him, but he has all these fangirls to deal with."

"What are fangirls?" Another squirrel asked.

"Fangirls are girls who like a person a lot just because that person is a hero or talented or something like that." Rima explained. "Fangirls don't care about personalities, they just want to be close to whoever they're a fan of to make themselves look good. I don't want to make Norman uncomfortable, so I'm going to wait and see if he develops feelings for me first and tells me. If so that's when I'll tell him my feelings. If not then I'll wait until there are fewer fangirls. Sometimes fangirls are fickle and grow tired of being a fan of one person. When that happens they move onto someone else."

"I can understand why you're not making a move now." A raccoon said. "If you did you could scare him off and lose him."

"Exactly, and not just as a boyfriend." Rima agreed. "I could lose him as a friend too. I don't want that to happen, he already has too few friends as it is."

The rest of March and a bit of April passed. Neil had gotten over his cold quickly and was back at school. The three, sometimes four counting Salma, hung out every day. Norman tried to control his feelings so that not even Neil would catch on, and thankfully he succeeded.

He still found his heart beating fast whenever Rima was near though, plus he kept feeling warm and happy around her no matter what was going on. He even had started to automatically daydream about the two of them being together. He was starting to realize that he really had fallen in love with her, and probably will never stop loving her. He hoped that she would love him back for real when he was ready to tell her how he felt.


	7. A Spirited Blitz of the Beasts

One day, Norman, Neil, and Rima were playing in the woods when they stopped in confusion.

"You guys hear angry animal sounds?" Neil said.

"Yeah, a lot of them." Norman nodded. "Even a...a horse?"

"I only hear dogs and cats." Neil shrugged. "Some of them are probably ghost animals."

"Yes, very angry ghost and living animals." Rima looked worried. "They're yelling about how awful humans are."

"Uh-oh, we'd better check this out." Norman led the way to where they were hearing the sounds.

They stopped many feet away, far enough for them to hear the animals better and even kinda see them but not so close that there was risk of the dogs smelling them out.

"Oh boy, that ghost horse is really mad." Norman paled a little.

"You mean that glowing shape there?" Neil pointed to the ghost horse.

"Exactly, when ghosts get mad enough or feel enough pain they become a sort of electrical ghost that everyone can see." Norman explained. "This was how Aggie looked before I calmed her down."

"But why are they so mad at humans?" Neil asked.

"Apparently they are or were abused pets." Rima explained. "They've been talking about the bad things their owners had done to them. I don't know why the horse is so mad, but from the sound of things he's their leader."

"You mean the horse hasn't said anything about being abused?" Norman asked.

"No, he hasn't, but if he's the angriest then something even worse than abuse must've happened to him-oh no!" She suddenly gasped. "They just said that they were going to attack the town."

"Maybe we can talk them out of it." Neil suggested.

The animals ran for town.

"Too late, we're going to have to cut them off and stop them before they hurt anyone." Norman shook his head.

So they ran for town, but since animals are faster they were almost too late. Fortunately since the ghost horse was visible to everyone else the town saw him before he even entered the town. His appearance caused them to run away in fright before the live animals could even really be seen. Not all the people ran away though, most hid in their homes and barricaded the doors. Only the ones who were still outside and didn't have time to head for their homes ran away. Norman's family, who had been out shopping, were among those who ran away.

Norman, Rima, and Neil ran along different streets until they finally managed to be far ahead of the people and animals.

"There's only one way to stop them: go in front of them." Norman decided.

"Whoa, you mean you're going to run right in front of the animals? But they could trample you." Neil said, worried.

"That's a risk I'll have to take." Norman shrugged. "I can't let them hurt anyone."

"But what about you?" Rima protested. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"I have to do this."

"Then I'm going to do it with you."

"What? No Rima you can't, I'm not letting you get hurt." Norman felt his chest tighten; he knew that if Rima got hurt it would break his heart.

"Well either you let me stop the animals with you or you don't cut in front of them." Rima crossed her arms.

"Rima please, we don't have time for this." Norman groaned. "I'm not changing my mind and I'm not letting you get hurt."

"I don't care if I get hurt, I just don't want you to get hurt." Rima argued. "So if you go out there I'm going with you to make sure you don't get hurt. I can't let you get hurt Norman I love you!"

Norman and Neil dropped their mouths open and Rima blushed big time.

"Oh no..." She said. "Oh Norman I'm sorry."

"What do you mean?" Norman asked.

"I've actually loved you since last month, but I was hiding it because of the fangirls." Rima explained, looking down. "I didn't want to burden you further or make you uncomfortable."

"That was very nice of you." Neil smiled.

Norman however didn't say anything. He was stunned, Rima cared more about his feelings than about ending up with him? His heart started to beat faster and his love for her grew even stronger. He now realized that it didn't matter how old they were as long as their love was true, and that Rima truly did love him if she cared more about him than herself. He suddenly smiled and lifted her head gently. Rima at first looked confused, until she saw how happy he looked. Now she was stunned, he loved her back?

Norman confirmed it by kissing her. Rima's eyes widened, caught off-guard, but then she relaxed, smiled, and returned the kiss. Neil beamed, very happy for Norman. Even though Neil was attracted to Rima he also knew that it wouldn't work out, plus he was happy that Norman finally found someone he loved who truly loved him back.

Norman and Rima's hearts beat even faster, and they felt so much love that they forgot about everything else, even Neil and the rampaging animals.

Neil however hadn't forgotten about the animals, so when he heard screaming and angry animal sounds his smile faded. He didn't want to, but he knew he had to interrupt Norman and Rima.

"Uh...guys, um, I hate to interrupt..." Neil tapped Norman, getting his attention. "But, er, the animals?"

"Oh right." Norman remembered. "Thanks Neil."

Norman and Rima ran towards the noise until they saw the people still running away. They waited until the last person passed them and then cut off the ghost horse. It turns out they didn't need to, Bub's ghost was already there barking angrily at the living and ghost animals. Neil caught up with Norman and Rima.

"Bub?" Norman was surprised. "What is he doing?"

"He's scolding the animals for attacking the people." Rima explained. "He's saying that not all humans are bad...and his owner Neil was one of the best owners ever."

"Aw gee..." Neil rubbed the back of his head, touched.

Suddenly, the ghost horse looked at Norman and backed away with a startled whinny.

"What's wrong with him?" Neil asked.

"I'm not sure, all he said was 'Aggie'-" Rima's eyes suddenly widened.

Norman and Neil were shocked too. Same with the people who were there.

"Aggie? As in Aggie Prenderghast?" Norman couldn't believe it.

The horse whinnied again.

"Yeah...I guess he knew Aggie when he was alive." Rima shrugged.

"He did, he was my pet."

Startled, everyone looked up and saw an angel float down.

"Aggie!" Norman gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"I saw what was going on." Aggie explained. "And then when Rima said that he whinnied my name I realized that he's my pet horse Spirit."

Aggie had been kinda watching Norman, wanting to get to know him more, and so learned Neil and Rima's names along with a few other details.

Spirit suddenly seemed calmer, though was still electrical, and he nuzzled Aggie sadly.

"So you two were good friends." Norman realized.

"We were. I really missed you Spirit." Aggie hugged her horse.

"But if he wasn't abused then why did he get the animals to attack the town?" Neil asked.

Suddenly a wave of light covered the town, changing the town so that it looked the way it did during the 1700s. Aggie was still an angel, but Spirit and the ghost animals looked alive again. Everyone saw that Spirit was actually a handsome speckled thoroughbred.

"What's going on?" Rima asked.

"I think we've been sent back to the past." Norman guessed, remembering when he had calmed down Aggie and made her look alive.

Spirit nodded, and led the way. Everyone followed until they neared the tree where Aggie had been hung. There was Aggie being hung! Well Past Aggie, not Angel Aggie. The town gasped upon seeing this.

"We have been sent back into the past." Norman looked at the scene upset and then turned away.

Spirit whinnied.

"He doesn't want us to see this, he wants us to look over there." Rima explained.

Everyone turned to where Spirit was looking, and saw another version of him standing by a woman, man and a little boy many feet away. Some officials prevented Past Spirit and the people by him from going closer.

"My parents and little brother..." Angel Aggie looked very upset. "I had no idea they and Spirit saw my execution."

Aggie's mother was sobbing and Aggie's father looked upset too.

"I kept telling her not to talk to the dead with other people around." He almost sobbed. "I didn't want this to happen."

"So that's why he acted that way." Angel Aggie realized.

"You didn't know?" Neil said.

"No, I didn't ask even after I was reunited with him and mom in Heaven." Aggie shrugged.

Mr. Babcock suddenly looked as if he had realized something and was feeling bad about it. He left the crowd and approached Norman.

"Norman?" He said.

Norman turned around, confused.

"I'm sorry for the way I treated you in the past." Mr. Babcock said, kneeling down. "I was just scared of you ending up like your uncle: alone and an outcast. I wanted a better future for you than that."

Norman smiled and hugged his father. Mr. Babcock was a bit startled at first, but then smiled and hugged him back. Obviously Mrs. Babcock was loving this scene.

At that moment Aggie's parents turned away and her little brother started to cry. Past Spirit whinnied heartbrokenly.

"Oh..." Rima said sadly. "Aggie's death traumatized Spirit. That's why he attacked the town, he was getting revenge for her."

The scene suddenly rippled and Past Judge Hopkins and the accusers had disappeared, same with Aggie. Everyone watched as Past Spirit approached where Aggie had been buried: under the tree she had been hung from. Aggie's mom was there too, having followed Spirit.

"Spirit, I know you miss Aggie." She said. "I do too but you can't stay here, you belong back in your stable."

Past Spirit neighed sadly as he shook his head.

"He said that he belongs with Aggie." Rima translated, close to crying.

Norman comfortingly put his arm around Rima.

"Okay, I guess I can't convince you to come home." Aggie's mom gave in. "But I'll bring you food, you still should keep up your strength."

She left.

The scene rippled again, showing that time had passed since Past Spirit first approached Aggie's grave. Past Judge Hopkins, the accusers, and some other people were coming towards him with ropes and whips.

"That horse hasn't left the witch's grave in weeks, he must be possessed." One of the people said.

"We'd better exorcise him then." Judge Hopkins said. "Get your ropes ready."

Startled, Past spirit turned around and saw the people coming towards him. He backed away, neighing warningly. They didn't listen, they lassoed him and tried to tie him up. However Past Spirit fought back, causing the people to also use their whips.

"It's no use, he's too strong!" One person called out.

"We'd better put him out of his misery then." Judge Hopkins pulled out a gun.

Past Spirit, enraged, raised his front hooves and hit Judge Hopkins in the chest before he could react. Judge Hopkins winced as he landed on the ground and tried to get up, but before he could Past Spirit crushed his chest with his front hooves. Judge Hopkins gasped with pain and then lay still, eyes wide open and blood trickling from his mouth.

The accusers and rest of the people, horrified, loosened their grips on the lassos. This allowed Spirit to break free and gallop off. The accusers and rest of the people chased after him, though Spirit kicked away one accuser who had gotten close with a back hoof. The accuser lost his balance down a hill, his neck getting broken in the process. One person finally shot Spirit, who fell to the ground with a startled whinny and tumbled down a small cliff. The person who shot him shot him a few more times to make sure he was dead.

Norman, his friends, the town, Spirit, Angel Aggie, and the animals had followed them and so saw what had happened.

"That's where we saw Spirit rallying the abused pets." Norman recognized the place.

Spirit whinnied again.

"He said that he was trying to avenge you Aggie." Rima translated. "He first let you have your chance, but when your last attempt didn't seem to work he decided to take matters into his own hooves."

"Spirit, my last attempt didn't work because it turned out that I didn't need revenge in the first place." Aggie said gently. "All I needed was to have someone understand me and to realize that instead of getting revenge I should just let the past go and move on. Norman, my descendant, was the one who calmed me down."

Spirit then looked at Norman for a moment.

"I know that sometimes being mistreated makes you want to want to treat your tormenters the same way." Norman said. "But if you do then you become the bully. Besides, Aggie's revenge had nothing to do with attacking the town. It had to do with getting Judge Hopkins and the others to be treated the same way they treated her."

Spirit awkwardly pawed a hoof.

"I think he was also getting revenge for his death." Rima guessed.

Spirit nodded.

"Well in a way you already did, plus you got revenge for Aggie's death." Norman said. "You killed Judge Hopkins and one of the accusers remember? You don't need to do anything else except move on."

The other animals seemed to be listening as well. Suddenly the ghost pets started to fade upward and the live pets ran away. One dog barked back and Rima explained that the ghost pets decided to find good owners in Heaven and the live pets were going to look for better owners in other areas. The flashback ended and they were back in present times, though everyone could still see Spirit. Only this time he wasn't electrical, he was just a regular ghost. He then whinnied.

"He wants to be given a proper burial by Aggie's grave." Rima translated.

"I'd like that too." Angel Aggie smiled.

The people who were there nodded.

"We will." Norman smiled.

Spirit then approached Norman and nuzzled him. Norman petted his muzzle.

"We'd better get some shovels." One person spoke up.

The rest of the people agreed and left to get tools. Norman, Rima, and Neil stayed behind. So did Norman's family and Bub.

"So, you're our ancestor." Courtney said, moving closer to Aggie. "I have to admit, you do look a lot like Norman."

"Yeah, the eyes and eyebrows come with the ability to talk to the dead." Aggie giggled. "You're Norman's older sister Courtney right?"

"Yup."

"I'm surprised girls are allowed to wear outfits like that now."

"Well women's fashions have changed over the centuries." Mrs. Babcock smiled. "Wars, financial troubles, and all sorts of other problems caused many changes actually."

They continued talking until the people came back with shovels and a huge wheelbarrow. The wheelbarrow was for carrying Spirit's remains to Aggie's grave (after all who wants to carry a dead body with their hands?). Norman and the others worked together to move Spirit over to where Aggie was buried. It turns out the people had also come back with a couple tombstones. One was for Aggie and the other was for Spirit. After getting the proper information the people carved Aggie's and Spirit's names, birth and death dates, and a few extra details into the tombstones.

After Spirit was buried and the tombstones were set up Aggie and Spirit smiled (well it looked like a smile in Spirit's case) and floated upward toward heaven. Everyone watched as Aggie and Spirit floated away, especially Norman and Rima, who had wrapped their arms around each other. Rima then laid her head on Norman's shoulder and he laid his head on hers. After Aggie and Spirit disappeared the rest of the people looked back down and saw Norman and Rima still in that position. Most of them realized that Norman and Rima were now a couple, especially Norman's family. Rima's family were there too, and realized it as well. Both families were really happy about the idea, since they liked the person their child ended up with. As for the rest of the people they were indifferent about it, though there were some fangirls who were understandably jealous.

Finally, few by few, the people started to head home. Only Neil, Norman, Rima, and their families were left, but it wasn't long until they left as well. Rima and Neil decided to hang out in Norman's bedroom and talk about what happened before they dealt with the animals.

"Norman," Rima said. "I know you're not ready to date. You did mention it a while back. So I don't mind waiting until you are ready."

"I am grateful that you're putting my feelings before yours." Norman smiled shyly. "But the truth is I've loved you since last month too and I can't hide it any longer. How about this: we won't seriously date like teenagers, but we won't hide our feelings either. We can also date on special occasions like holidays. Valentine's Day especially."

"Sounds good to me." Rima smiled.

"Neil, you okay with this?" Norman asked.

"Well yeah, I mean I'm glad you finally found the right girl." Neil shrugged. "And I know we'll still hang out and everything anyway."

Norman and Rima smiled at him.

Time passed. After seeing what Aggie really looked like and after knowing her story the town decided to put up a new statue in front of town hall. It was of Aggie's true form, Spirit, Norman, and Rima. The label for the statue mentioned them by name and title:

Agatha Prenderghast - The First Official Town Medium

Spirit - Agatha's Horse, Devoted to Her Even After Death

Norman Babcock - Agatha's Descendent and Town Hero, Found the Truth About Agatha and Stopped the Curse

Rima Musitabestia - Helped Norman Calm Spirit When He Tried to Avenge Agatha

A.N. I used the words musitador (whisperer in Spanish) and bestia (animal in Spanish) to make Rima's last name.


	8. Mediums and Marriages

The years passed. Norman's fangirls were still jealous of Rima but knew that they'd risk making themselves look bad if they ever tried to split them up. So, apart from giving jealous glares to Rima, they left them alone. Eventually the fangirls learned to move on.

Norman and Rima's love not only stayed strong, it grew even stronger. At first they only dated on holidays and had special outings on their birthdays and the anniversaries of their first kiss. For their birthdays they just went to a restaurant, the birthday person being treated by the other. For anniversaries they had picnics near the tree where Aggie and Spirit had been buried. They even took some time to talk to Aggie and Spirit through the tree. Aggie and Spirit never really responded, but Norman and Rima could still tell that the two were at peace and were happy for the couple.

Once Norman and Rima entered high school they started seriously dating. Movies, dinner, everything. They even started dancing, though Norman insisted on practicing at his house or her house before trying it in public. Despite now being used to the town treating him better Norman never forgot how he used to be treated and so was still shy and sometimes awkward because of it. Rima didn't mind, actually she found it refreshing since most of the rest of the guys became a bit conceited or overconfident for one reason or another.

During the years Norman also got to meet Rima's past friends from her old hometown. They got along right away, especially the guys since they were grateful to Norman for giving them a reason why they couldn't date Rima (they were sometimes still teased about that back home).

Also after bringing peace to two ghosts, one a horse, Norman and Rima had decided what they wanted to do after they graduated. Rima wanted to be an animal whisperer and help families who were having trouble with their pets and vice-versa. Norman wanted to become a traveling Medium and help bring peace to other troubled ghosts out there. However there was one problem: Norman was secretly still afraid of being hung or burned at the stake. Especially hung. After what happened to Aggie and what almost happened to him you couldn't blame him, but even though it was an understandable fear he never told anyone about it. He didn't even talk to his grandma about it. He knew she'd just repeat her previous advice about not letting fear change who he was anyway.

Of course he didn't have to worry about that in Blithe Hollow anymore, but what about the rest of the world? He was having trouble figuring out what to do, until he was reminded of the false Mediums, the Mediums who claimed to be able to talk to the dead but actually couldn't. Norman then got the solution: use the theatrics false Mediums use to protect himself. This way those who wanted to believe could receive his help without risking making other people go after him. After all the skeptics would just think that he was another false Medium.

His family and friends thought it was a great idea.

"I can even help you with the ghost animals." Rima added. "If any of your customers want you to communicate with a lost pet you can just tell them to wait until you've contacted your partner, me, and then you'll do it."

"Yeah that works." Norman smiled.

"Oo, can I do the theatrical stuff for you?" Neil offered.

"Really?" Norman wanted to make sure. "Don't you have another career you want to do?"

"Nah, I haven't decided on anything yet." Neil shrugged. "Besides, I love helping my friends anyway, plus it sounds like fun."

"Okay." Norman smiled again.

"Wait son, what about payment?" Mr. Babcock said. "You know those fake Mediums rip people off all the time."

"Well I was thinking that my customers could decide on the payment instead of me having a set price." Norman shrugged. "That way if they feel that I've really helped me out they can pay me in relation to it, and if they feel that I haven't helped them at all they don't have to pay me anything."

"You mean like charity work?" Courtney, who was visiting the family at the time, guessed.

"Exactly, that's mostly why I'm doing this anyway. And I'd only accept money from those who pay me because I'll need food and other things. Plus using that payment system will help keep me out of trouble. You know, from the law. I still should get a license though, but that probably won't be too hard."

Norman was right, after the mayor and other officials found out what he wanted to do and why he had no trouble getting a license at all.

Also the idea to use the theatrics of false Mediums to protect himself worked. Believers came to him frequently to talk to their deceased loved ones and skeptics just left him alone. He could even talk to ghosts in public without ridicule because the people believed that he was just doing it as a creative advertisement for his business.

Neil was actually a big help during the travels and while helping customers, making Norman more than grateful that he let Neil come along. Originally Norman was worried that he was keeping Neil from his true destiny, but it turns out he didn't have to worry about that at all. Neil's true destiny was being his friend and helping him when he needed it. Rima was first just Norman's business partner, doing her own thing on the side, but that changed a little later on.

For when they were in their early-mid twenties, Norman proposed. Rima accepted obviously, and they traveled back to Blithe Hollow for the wedding. It wasn't a church or town hall wedding though, instead Norman and Rima decided to hold the wedding in front of Agatha and Spirit's tree. This was not only to represent both Norman and Rima's pasts, but also to allow Aggie and Spirit to be at the wedding even if they couldn't be there in person.

But surprisingly, they did show up in person. Being both angels now meant that everyone could see them, so everyone was surprised when they saw them float down. Aggie and Spirit weren't the only ones there either, Aggie's parents, her brother, and even Judge Hopkins and the accusers were there too.

"You...you all came?" Norman was surprised and touched.

"How could we not? We are family Norman." Aggie smiled.

"And we're still grateful to you for giving our daughter peace." Aggie's mom smiled.

"We're grateful to you as well." Judge Hopkins added. "And we're glad that you now have a wonderful future."

Then Mr. Prenderghast, Norman's uncle, showed up.

"Since they came I figured I might as well come too." He chuckled. "Great work nephew, I'm proud of you."

Norman just smiled.

After the wedding the angels stayed for the reception. Mr. Prenderghast caught up with Mrs. Babcock and Mr. Babcock and Norman, Rima, and Neil talked to Aggie and the others.

"It's great seeing you again Aggie." Norman smiled.

"It's great seeing you too, I've felt a connection to you ever since you gave me peace." Aggie smiled back. "And it's not just because you're my descendant either, it's more like...like you're my big brother. At least metaphorically."

"I think it's also because I'm the first to ever truly understand you." Norman added. "It can't be just that though, because I know what you mean by a connection. You kinda feel like my little sister too."

They hugged.

"You know, I think you'll be seeing more of me in the future." Aggie said.

"I'd like that." Norman agreed. "At least as long as you're an angel and don't turn back into a ghost. That way I'll know that you're still at peace."

"Of course."

Aggie did end up visiting Norman, Neil, and Rima a lot. She became the second ghost/angel Norman saw most often, with his grandma still being the first. After all she did promise to always look out for him, and that wasn't going to change even though he was now an adult. She was proud of him too, and was glad that he now had a wonderful life.

Later Norman and Rima had a daughter, who they named Agatha. Aggie didn't find out until she visited them after Rima came home (well, home to the hotel Rima, Neil, and Norman were staying in at the time). Aggie would've visited sooner but her mom told her that new mothers often needed to rest after the birth.

"Hello." Aggie smiled as she floated into the room. "Wanted to see the new member of the family."

"Here she is." Rima smiled, holding out her daughter.

Aggie looked at her and smiled. Then she looked surprised.

"Her eyes look like Norman's and mine...except they're the same color as Rima's." She said.

"We think she might have inherited both our ability to talk to the dead and Rima's ability to talk to animals." Norman explained.

"Oh." Aggie smiled understandingly. "So what's her name?"

"Agatha." Norman smiled.

Aggie looked at him with shock and then, very touched, floated over and hugged him.

More years passed. Agatha grew up to be a sweet girl and sure enough could talk to both the dead and to animals. She loved her parents and grandparents of course, and great-grandma, but was also fond of her Uncle Neil and Aunt Courtney. Agatha especially grew close to Aggie, who she called Aunt Aggie.

Norman was never alone or an outcast again for the rest of his life.


End file.
